Filarmonica della Scala was founded in 1982 by the musicians of La Scala Opera House and Claudio Abbado with the aim of developing the symphonic repertoire. It has remained a self-directed ensemble to this day. Carlo Maria Giulini was its first conductor and led the first international tours; Riccardo Muti, principal conductor from 1987 to 2005, promoted its artistic growth and made it a regular guest of the most prestigious international concert halls. From the outset it has been led by a series of internationally renowned conductors, including Leonard Bernstein, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Seiji Ozawa, Zubin Mehta, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Riccardo Chailly, Yuri Temirkanov, Daniele Gatti, Fabio Luisi, Gustavo Dudamel. A deep collaboration has been established with Myung-Whun Chung, named Conductor Emeritus, and Daniel Harding. Daniel Barenboim, music director of La Scala from 2006 to 2015, and Valery Gergiev are honorary members, just as Georges Prêtre, Lorin Maazel, Wolfgang Sawallisch were. In 2015 Riccardo Chailly was named principal conductor. During the years that followed, the orchestra has reached a new performance standard. The tours they undertook and the recordings they have made also contributed to the reputation of the group.

Filarmonica has performed more than 800 concerts on tour. Important milestones have included the Orchestra’s debut in the United States with Riccardo Chailly and in China with Myung-Whun Chung. The Orchestra has a particular interest in contemporary music, and every season features a new commission by an important composer of our time.

Since 2013 Filarmonica della Scala hosts the Concerto per Milano in Piazza Duomo, an acclaimed free event which has had an attendance of more than 40,000 people every year. The educational project Sound, Music!, dedicated to primary school children, brings music to wider audiences and gives special attention to young people. Filarmonica also supports Milan’s main scientific institutions, social and voluntary bodies through special concerts and open rehearsals belonging to the series Prove Aperte. In 2024, the Municipality of Milan awarded the Filarmonica della Scala the Ambrogino d’oro, a certificate of Civic Merit reserved for Milanese personalities and entities who have significantly contributed to the city.

Filarmonica has made numerous recordings. In 2017 Decca published Ouvertures, Preludes and Intermezzi from operas premiered at La Scala and in 2019 The Fellini Album with film music by Nino Rota, followed by Cherubini Discoveries and Respighi, both part of the acclaimed series celebrating the great Italian composers. The last release celebrates music inspired by Italy and includes Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony alongside Schubert’s two Rossini-inspired overtures In the Italian Style and three early Mozart overtures to Italian operas first performed in Milan.

Filarmonica della Scala’s activity is supported by the Main Partner UniCredit.

source: Künstleragentur Dr. Raab & Dr. Böhm

photo © Andrea Veroni

Energy, elegance, and spirit – these are the characteristics that best describe the Columbian native Andrés Orozco-Estrada as a musician and one of the most respected conductors of his generation. Beginning in the 2020/21 season, he will put his strengths to use as the music director of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. In addition, since the 2014/15 season, he has been the chief conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and the music director of the Houston Symphony Orchestra. At the same time, he guest conducts many of the world’s top orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. His multiple appearances at the festivals in Glyndebourne and Salzburg have met with great success, while his recordings on the Pentatone label have attracted favourable critical attention. Highlights from last season include his concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic at the BBC Proms and in Lucerne as well as on tour in China, South Korea, and Japan.

The German cellist Daniel Müller-Schott is one of today’s most sought-after soloists. Critics praise his intensity of expression, while he has been characterised as a “daring player with outstanding technique”. He studied with legendary cellists Heinrich Schiff and Mstislav Rostropovich; moreover, he won the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow at the age of 15. Müller-Schott has appeared together with top performers on many of the world’s great concert stages, including with conductors Manfred Honeck, Lorin Maazel, Christoph Eschenbach, and Kurt Masur, and soloists Renaud Capuçon, Julia Fischer, Daniel Hope, and Anne-Sophie Mutter. He also devotes himself intensively to recording – so far having taken part in the making of 30 CDs with a wide range of repertoire, from Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven to Schubert, Brahms, Dvořák, and Tchaikovsky in addition to Shostakovich and Britten. Several of those recordings have garnered significant awards, including the Diapason d’Or. The cellist plays a rare instrument from the Venetian workshop of Matteo Goffriller (1727).

The Rudolfinum is one of the most important Neo-Renaissance edifices in the Czech Republic. In its conception as a multi-purpose cultural centre it was quite unique in Europe at the time of its construction. Based on a joint design by two outstanding Czech architects, Josef Zítek and Josef Schultz, a magnificent building was erected serving for concerts, as a gallery, and as a museum. The grand opening on 7 February 1885 was attended by Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria, in whose honour the structure was named. In 1896 the very first concert of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra took place in the Rudolfinum's main concert hall, under the baton of the composer Antonín Dvořák whose name was later bestowed on the hall.